In the construction of modern electronic devices such as integrated circuits, device geometries are constantly shrinking, resulting in a need for smaller processing equipment for making the devices. Alignment of process components is often a limiting factor in the ability to reduce the size of process equipment. As an example, chemical vapor deposition methods for making integrated circuits use a deposition chamber wherein a perforated vapor distribution plate is ideally situated about 300 mil from a support platform for the integrated circuit work piece. The distribution plate and the support platform ideally have parallel surfaces and experiments show that the best results are obtained when the surfaces are aligned in parallel within a very small tolerance. Such alignment is achievable by the combination of careful adjustment and close examination of product variances. However, there is no simple and economical apparatus or method for aligning surfaces in such close proximity.